Twisted
by Dante Knight
Summary: Maybe love really is blind. Jenny runs into her high school love, but she's in for a very unpleasant surprise when she discovers just how much he's changed.
1. Chapter One

Jenny leaned back in her chair as she drank from her strawberry smoothie. It was a very warm summer day and she had had time to go shopping for a while. She had been heading toward the mall when she decided to grab a smoothie at a popular Christian-themed coffee shop called Holy Grounds. It was her favorite place to go for Cappuccinos in the winter and smoothies in the summer. She often stopped in it whenever she passed it by.  
She absently watched as people came in to order cold drinks to cool down. A young man wearing a baseball hat came into the coffee shop, catching Jenny's eye almost immediately. She kept her gaze on him as he approached the counter and ordered. He was very attractive... and strangely familiar.  
He received his order and turned to sit down at one of the tables, taking the one across from hers. He took off his hat to reveal black hair that was too short to really be styled. Jenny raised her eyebrows as he tossed his hat onto the empty chair beside him. Taking his hat off indoors was a sign of good manners. She was impressed.  
He seemed to sense her stare and he glanced up at her with deep brown eyes. They gave each other friendly smiles, but Jenny looked away, suddenly feeling very out of place. She decided she had better just leave him alone since she couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar, and she didn't want him to catch her watching him again.  
She jumped when she heard someone pull out a chair from her table. She looked up to see the same guy take a seat across from her, his smoothie in one hand and baseball hat in the other.  
"I know you, don't I?" he asked her.  
Jenny studied him, careful not stare for too long. "That's the same question I've been trying to answer," she replied.  
Finally, it dawned on him and it was clear on his face. "Hey, didn't you go to Beyer High School?" he questioned.  
"Yes, I did. You did, too...?"  
"Yeah. You're Jenny Andrews, right?"  
She nodded. "And you are...?"  
"Jon Tanner! I remember you!"  
Jenny's face lit up. "Jon, oh my goodness! Jeez, I can't believe I didn't recognize you!"  
"Yeah!" He stood up to give her a hug. "Man, I haven't seen you since graduation. How have you been?"  
"Busy! How 'bout you?"  
"Same here! I scored a great job at Bellflower Industries."  
"I thought you were interested in the music industry."  
Jon grinned. "Good memory." Then he shrugged. "I dunno... I changed my mind. I'm one of the big shots there, though."  
"Of course you are. You were always a big shot in high school."  
Jenny's comlink beeped and they both looked down at it. "What's that?" Jon wanted to know.  
"It's my beeper," Jenny gave her well-prepared lie.  
"A beeper? Man, those are old!"  
"Not the ones that go on your wrist." She smiled. "It was great seeing you again, Jon, but I gotta go. My cell phone is in my car." It beeped again.  
Jon wasn't ready for her to leave. "I'll just go with you," he suggested as they stood and gathered their things.  
"I gotta go back to work," Jenny told him. "Look, I know we still have so much to talk about, so meet me here tomorrow at six."  
Jon smiled and it turned Jenny's knees into jelly. "I'll be there," he promised.  
"Me too," Jenny replied. "See ya then."  
  
~~~@  
  
"Kyle called twice while you were enjoying yourself in there, Jenny," Domino informed her partner as soon as she climbed in.  
"Oh yeah?" Jenny said as she fired the engine and cranked up the air conditioner.  
"He's bringing all of the operatives together to give us another mission." The AI paused. "Who was that man you were talking to?"  
Jenny smiled again. "Eavesdropping, Domino?"  
"Not exactly. I was just wondering what was taking you so long so I scanned the building and found you with a man."  
"Well," Jenny said as she pulled out into the traffic, "that was my high school boyfriend."  
Domino's interest was sparked at once. "An old flame! How romantic. Is he still hot?"  
"More than ever," Jenny sighed. "I'm meeting him again tomorrow. We have a lot of catching up to do."  
"Really? Will any of that 'catching up' involve a kiss or two?"  
"I don't know, Domino," Jenny laughed. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see, huh?"  
  
~~~@  
  
Jenny stepped into the situation room on SkyOne to find Trek, Erica, Kyle and Duke waiting for her. She quietly took a seat in the nearest chair, feeling everyone's gaze.  
"I'm so glad you could join us, Jenny," Kyle spoke first.  
Jenny smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "I got... caught up."  
"Right," Kyle said and opened a report on his computer. "Well, to get right to the point, has anyone heard of Bellflower Industries?"  
A few of them confirmed that they had and Jenny said, "That's a technical and mechanical manufacturing company. They make a whole variety of equipment, but mostly weapons." It didn't even occur to her than Jon had said that he worked there. She was already switched into work-mode.  
"Well, I wouldn't quite say that they manufacture their equipment," Kyle remarked. "They've been expertly stealing valuable machinery and weapons from places such as competing companies and even the military. Then they claim it as their own and sell it."  
"And they haven't gotten busted for it yet?" Trek asked.  
"Not yet," Kyle answered. "The things they steal are things that have not yet been patented. So as long as they transport the stolen goods without any witnesses, they can patent them under their own name and there won't be any way for anyone to prove the goods were stolen. Hopefully, we're going to put a stop to it."  
"Any leads?" Erica inquired, lazily leaning back in her chair.  
"Anthony Cutlass. He is the owner of Bellflower Industries. Unfortunately, his background check didn't provide anything useful. He has never been caught for any of his wrongdoings except for a curfew violation when he was sixteen."  
"What about any other employees?" Duke wanted to know.  
"I haven't been able to come up with any. It seems that his employees are working under fictitious names." He glanced over at his computer screen. "Bellflower Industries is using three warehouses here in LA that belong to a Kevin Minogue, who died a few months ago. The ownership has not been changed. I believe they are using the property without any permission."  
"So we need to go investigate and hopefully catch them red-handed," Jenny summed up.  
Kyle nodded as they all started to stand up.  
"We're on it," Duke said and they filed out.  
  
~~~@  
  
The grounds of Kevin Minogue's looked dead as the TKR operatives drove up to the warehouses with their AIs kept on Silent Mode. Kyle surveyed the area through Dante's windshield. The place looked like it hadn't been used since Minogue's death. He shifted his stare from his surroundings to Dante's monitor, which was split into four windows and was serving as a four-way vid-link to the other operatives.  
"Looks promising," Trek commented dryly.  
"Oh yeah," Erica put in.  
"All right, let's go see if we can find anything," Kyle instructed.  
"Erica and I can take the first warehouse," Jenny said, but then she looked down at the monitor, "if that's okay with you, Kyle."  
"Go," Kyle agreed. "Duke, take the second one. I got the third."  
They dispersed obediently, each taking the different warehouses. They staked out the buildings, circling them several times or sometimes sitting stationary in one place, in search of some kind of action. Jenny sighed as she completed yet another circuit around the first warehouse. "There's nothing here," she grumbled after a long while. "What about inside, Domino?"  
Domino took a moment to scan the inside of the warehouses. "There is absolutely nothing inside this warehouse, Jenny."  
"Nothing here either," Trek spoke up through the vid-link. "This place is as dead as Minogue."  
Jenny and Kyle both grinned, but Erica just rolled her eyes.  
"This is getting us nowhere," Kyle eventually decided. "I take it FLAG's resources were wrong about this place. It couldn't have been used recently."  
"Kyle," Domino said, "my scanners show that the gears of this roll-up door around back are warm."  
Jenny raised her eyebrows. "So someone has been here," she said.  
"Recently," Duke added.  
"We must have just missed them," Erica deduced.  
"They could've been any of the trucks we passed by on our way here," Trek added.  
"How do we know they use trucks?" Erica questioned. "They've eliminated tracks of any vehicles on the dirt."  
"This is still getting us nowhere," Kyle said. "We should try for more information back at SkyOne. We can come back tomorrow. If they use this place regularly, then they probably go by a routine schedule."  
Although no one looked too happy, they agreed and ended their surveillance, leaving the property and heading back home on the long two- lane road. No one spoke for a long time, each immersed in their own thoughts and feeling a little dumb for wasting time in a dead-end. Kyle was pulled out of his thoughts first when Dante spoke, "Kyle."  
"Yeah, Dante?"  
"I detect a parked truck a few miles ahead of us and its trailer is full of weapons."  
Kyle sat up in his seat, squinting in attempt to see the truck in the distance. "That's our truck," he said. "Did everyone hear that?" he asked through the vid-link. Then he frowned. "Why are they parked?"  
"I can't tell," Dante answered. "The truck is in perfect running order and they don't appear to be loading or unloading."  
"So they're just sitting there doing nothing."  
"Apparently. There is one man in the cab and two men in the trailer."  
"I don't like this," Kyle muttered.  
"It could be an ambush, Kyle," Jenny remarked.  
"I agree," Dante said. "I suggest we proceed with caution."  
Kyle glanced in his rear-view mirror to see the single-file line of AIs behind him and couldn't help but feel tense. It only grew worse when the truck came into view. It was a white truck with no logo parked on the right side of the road and appearing completely harmless. But Kyle's 'internal alarm' was clanging in his head.  
The trailer door suddenly flew up, drawing Kyle's eyes immediately. His gaze met with two men standing in the trailer, both armed with the weapons that were stored in the trailer.  
"Kyle-" Dante suddenly started, but Kyle's alarmed shout cut him off.  
  
Kyle gritted his teeth, jamming the steering wheel hard to the right as something flashed by like a brilliant fireball.  
"Missile!" Dante proclaimed.  
Duke looked up with a start as he suddenly found himself in the front of the line. He gasped and automatically swerved to the left as a perfect ball of orange flames exploded into Beast's passenger side door. Duke screwed his eyes shut and held onto the steering wheel for dear life as the impact of the missile forced Beast sideways, eventually spinning out. A sudden halt jarred Duke in his seat and he silently thanked Beast for the passive laser restraint system. He opened his eyes to find the AI crammed up against a large tree that was now broken and lying across the bed of the truck. It had saved them from possibly flipping over.  
"That wasn't fun," he muttered. He looked over at Beast's monitor and found that it was blank and his connection to the other four operatives had been terminated. "Beast?" he called.  
"That guy's really gonna pay for denting me," the AI growled darkly.  
Duke glanced over toward the passenger's side and found the door brutally caved in, but there didn't seem to be any further damage. "Just a dent," he muttered. "It could've been much worse." Another missile flew by and he instinctively ducked. "Whoa! They're not done, are they?"  
Beast's monitor suddenly came to life with an image of a worried Kyle, who was trying to keep his eyes on both Dante's screen and the road. "Duke, are you all right?"  
"Fine," Duke answered as he lifted his gaze to the chaos occurring a short distance from where Beast now sat. "I think you might need some help." He floored the accelerator and Beast shot forward toward the truck, leaving the tree behind.  
Erica winced as another missile blew up dangerously close to the combo car. She swerved to avoid colliding with Domino. "We can't take a direct hit," Kat informed her partner. "It could turn out worse than Beast."  
Erica glanced over at the dented truck as Beast flew past her. "Yeah, I gathered that," she grumbled.  
"Let me give them a taste of their own medicine," Beast said to Duke.  
"No!" Duke exclaimed, slamming on the brakes as another missile exploded onto the pavement in front of Beast. "You do that and you could ignite every other weapon on that trailer!"  
Beast growled, but spoke nothing more.  
"All right, I'm getting tired of this," Kyle declared. "I'm going for the driver."  
"I suggest you do that now then, Kyle," Dante advised. "The two men in the trailer have just ran out of missiles and are searching for more weapons."  
"Perfect."  
Kyle went for the truck at once, his jaw set in determination. He caught a glimpse of the driver through the truck's side-view mirror and he knew he had been seen. An arm protruded from the open window of the driver's side door, aiming a gun at the silver SUV and firing. Kyle was almost amused at the driver's attempt to stop him and pulled over toward the truck while the driver emptied his gun on Dante. The driver suddenly ceased fire and the engine of the truck groaned to a rough start. Kyle took that opportunity to shoot out of the car and toward the driver, but the truck took off with a burst of speed. Grumbling, he returned to Dante and forced the throttle to the floor, keeping the SUV right beside the truck.  
The men in the trailer had not been anticipating such a sudden departure and they almost lost their footing, stumbling over each other and weapons lying at their feet. Jenny stopped at once as soon as the truck went into motion. She had climbed out of Domino to apprehend the two men while they were gathering more weapons, but she could never catch them on foot now with the truck in motion. She scrambled back to Domino and took off with Beast and the combo car.  
Kyle was no longer amused as the driver continued firing at Dante, creating nothing but sparks. He couldn't understand why the driver couldn't see that shooting was useless.  
"Kyle, what do you plan on doing?" Dante wanted to know. "These bullets are going to start chipping my paint." "That's the last of my worries right now, Dante." "You know I won't allow you out of the car until he stops firing at us."  
"That's what I'm waiting for," Kyle answered. "He can't have that many bullets left."  
"And then what after that?"  
"We'll worry about that when it gets here." For now, he just concentrated on remaining at the driver's side.  
Kyle gasped with surprise as the driver took an unexpected right turn, almost jackknifing the truck. The trailer went swinging wide with inertia as Kyle braked hard and it smashed into Dante's right fender, placing the men in the trailer right at Dante's window. Kyle glanced over and let out a startled shout when he found himself looking down the barrel of a rocket launcher. Kyle slammed the brakes again, tearing Dante away from the trailer.  
Jenny skidded to a stop at almost the same time, digging her nails into Domino's steering wheel as she tried not to rear-end Dante. The Mustang plowed into Dante's rear bumper anyway, jolting both of the cars.  
"Sorry!" Jenny hissed at the monitor where her connection to Kyle was still displayed.  
"Accepted," was the only word Kyle had time to utter. He watched as the man lowered the rocket launcher, but the second man was playing with something in his hands and he threw it as the truck continued its escape.  
"It's a bomb!" Dante suddenly cried.  
"It's a bomb!" Kyle echoed, addressing the operatives on Dante's monitor. "Reverse! Reverse!"  
Tires squealed as the operatives changed direction immediately, retreating from the bomb. A gigantic explosion was generated in front of the team and sent them flying back even further. They collided with each other as they lost control. It seemed like an eternity before everyone came to a rough stop.  
"Is everyone all right?" Kyle yelled at the vid-link.  
He forced himself to calm down as everyone responded positively, but then Beast interrupted with a harsh, "No." Kyle tensed again as he looked toward the monitor at Duke, who was grinning slightly.  
"Relax, Kyle," he said, "He's just unhappy with the dent in his side."  
Kyle smiled a little before lifting his gaze up through the windshield. His smile was wiped off of his face. The dust and dirt had begun to settle, revealing a large crater on the side of the road. "Whoa," he breathed.  
"Man, these people aren't joking around," Jenny commented. "Where's the truck, Domino?"  
"Out of scanner range," Domino answered. "None of us can pick it up."  
Kyle sighed with irritation. "Let's get back to SkyOne," he finally instructed.  
  
~~~@  
  
"So they didn't even hesitate to attack us with military weapons," Trek said. He and the rest of the team were right back where they had started-in the situation room.  
"How did they know to attack us?" Jenny inquired.  
"Because we were the only ones on the road?" Erica guessed. She shook her head and leaned back in one of the plush chairs of the room. "Someone must've seen us on Minogue's property and got paranoid."  
"Missiles are awfully extreme for paranoia," Duke remarked. "I wanna know who those men were. Do they work for Bellflower Industries? Did we get any visuals?"  
"The clearest visual we have of any of them is of the driver from Dante," Kyle added.  
The image appeared on the wall's flat screen. The driver in the photo was blurred by dust flying up from the ground. He was shooting with his right hand, so his arm covered much of his face. Sparks from the bullets as they struck Dante's shell also added to the lack of clarity. "Is there any way to sharpen it?" Jenny questioned, studying the driver intently. "He almost looks familiar..."  
"I'm not sure," Kyle replied, "I could have Dante try, but it'll probably take a while."  
"Go for it," said Trek, "it's all we have to go on. Let's just hope he doesn't look familiar because we've tangled with him before."  
The sound of the door sliding open silenced the conversation. They all turned their heads to see Gil standing in the doorway.  
"Ever heard of knocking?" Erica spoke up first.  
"Just an FYI," Gil said. "We've got most of the damage done to the AIs repaired. You guys should be able to carry on by tomorrow morning."  
"Thank you, Gil," Kyle replied with a nod.  
Erica waited until Gil walked away before turning to glance toward Kyle. "'Should be?'" she echoed the mechanic. She rolled her eyes. "Who knows how long it'll really take with Gil on the job."  
"Either way, we've got to continue in the morning," said Kyle. "Everyone get a good night's sleep and we'll have a fresh start tomorrow."  
  
~~~@  
  
It was still a bit early in the morning when Duke came into the garage. It was still relatively quiet, as people were up but not fully awake yet.  
"You're up unusually early," Beast commented to his partner.  
"Who?" came a voice from behind truck. A head popped up on the other side of Beast's hood, a questioning look about his face.  
Duke raised his eyebrows as he recognized the man as Gil. "You," he replied. "You never work this early."  
"Yeah, well." He looked a bit sheepish as he stepped out from behind the AI. "I, uh. I had to finish the work."  
A bit skeptical, Duke moved around Beast to have a look at the passenger side door. Much to his surprise, where the aftermath of a missile should have been painfully obvious in the black shell, there was nothing. It looked like nothing had ever happened. Duke ran his hand across the door panel.  
"Wow," he remarked, "that looks great."  
"For a change," Beast muttered.  
Gil brightened up at once. "Really?" he asked.  
"Don't let it go to your head," Beast said.  
The comment seemed to go right over the mechanic's head as he just stood there, looking pleased with himself. Duke decided to just leave it alone and he made his way to the truck's driver's seat. "Care to fill me in on where we're going?" Beast asked before Duke could start the engine. "Minogue's warehouses," Duke answered. "Kyle wants us to stake the place out for a while, see if we can catch any activity." "Good."  
Duke eyed the truck's dash. "You anxious to do surveillance or something?"  
"I can't let them get away with denting me."  
Duke just shook his head a bit as he leaned forward to fire Beast's engine with a mighty roar.  
  
~~~@  
  
Jon's eyes were glued to the clock on his office wall as he watched the minute hand slowly creep toward the nine. As soon as it hit 5:45, he was going to get out of there. He had been looking forward to his meeting with Jenny all day, thus making this day one of the longest days he thought he would ever experience.  
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the clock read 5:45. Jon shot out of his chair, heading straight for the door. Then, as if on cue, the phone rang. Jon stopped to turn and glare at the phone sitting on his desk, debating on whether to just let the message machine pick it up. But when he took a closer look, he saw that the call was on the private line. He sighed with defeat and snatched it up. "Jon Tanner."  
"Jon," a smooth voice emanated from the other line. "Anthony Cutlass."  
Jon stood upright. "What can I do for you, Anthony?"  
"A lot. Would you please come into my office?"  
"Sure."  
Jon hung up the phone in a huff and hurried out the door. 


	2. Chapter Two

Jon stepped into a large office room. The lights were off, as usual, with only the light of the evening sun through the large windows to light up the room. A tall man with slicked back, brown hair was sitting at the computer.  
"Jon," Anthony said, his back toward his employee. "First off, I want to compliment you on how well you carried out yesterday's mission."  
"Thank you. You wanted to speak to me about something.?"  
"I've found something that could make us very, very wealthy," Anthony said as he turned around in his chair to face Jon.  
Jon nodded. "What is it? I'll get it."  
Anthony was looking thoughtful. "Have you ever heard of the Foundation for Law and Government?"  
"Who hasn't?" Jon asked with a grin. "The guy that created it was a billionaire."  
"Let's go a little deeper, then. What about Team Knight Rider?"  
"Team Knight Rider?" Jon echoed. "Sounds like an action series."  
"They are a justice agency that is better than the FBI," Anthony explained. "Their technology is outstanding. Have a look." He rolled back in his chair so Jon could see his computer monitor. He had accessed one of the outside security cameras on Minogue's property. The camera was focused on a man creeping through the grounds with a large, black truck following closely behind him.  
"Who's the guy?" Jon wanted to know.  
"Never mind the guy. He won't find anything. Look at the truck." Anthony gave the security camera the command so zoom in on the truck.  
Jon stepped closer for a better look and his eyebrows show up. "No one's driving it," he observed.  
"Yes, that's right. And guess what's under that hood besides a good engine and a lot of horsepower?"  
"A computer?"  
"Even better." Anthony grinned. "An AI."  
"No way. An artificial intelligence? Wilton Knight was smart enough to create a real live artificial intelligence?"  
Anthony's grin turned into a dark chuckle. "Yes, and we're going to make a lot of money with Knight's little invention."  
"You want me to steal the whole truck?" Jon asked with disbelief.  
"We don't call it stealing, Jon," Anthony corrected him, "we're just taking what we need to survive. And no, I don't want the whole truck. Just the central processing unit."  
"How the heck am I gonna get the CPU out of the car?" Jon inquired.  
"Maybe you should go investigate," Anthony advised and turned back to his computer.  
Jon huffed and turned to leave as Anthony's tone implied he should. He had almost closed the door behind him when he heard Anthony call his name again.  
"Contact Peter Guerra," his boss said without turning around.  
  
~~~@  
  
Jenny checked her watch once again as she took in another deep breath. I better not have been set up, she thought to herself as she waiting at one of the tables in Holy Grounds. Jon was already ten minutes late. From what she remembered, it wasn't like Jon to be late. But then again, that was back in high school. She had yet to find out how much Jon had changed over the years.  
She took another drink of her smoothie and decided that she was going to want a second one soon. She heard the door open and looked up hopefully, smiling to see Jon approaching her, wearing that baseball hat again. "Glad you decided to make it," she said as he sat down.  
"I am so sorry," Jon apologized. "I got hung up at work."  
"I was starting to think maybe you set me up."  
Jon pretended to be hurt. "Come on, Jen, have I ever done that to you before?"  
"Well, there was this one time."  
Jon's jaw dropped open. "Oh come on! I have never gone back on my word!"  
Jenny laughed. It was music to Jon's ears. "Well, you're lucky I'm even here at all," she told him. "I'm supposed to be working right now, but let's just keep that on the down low."  
"Where do you work?" asked Jon. "You know all about my work-life, so tell me about yours. Are you some famous band artist's back-up dancer like you wanted to be?"  
"No," Jenny smiled, "I dumped that dream when I went into the marines."  
"You're in the marines?"  
"No, I used to be in the marines. Now I work for the Foundation for Law and Government."  
Jon's smile was wiped off of his face. "The Foundation for Law and Government?" he sputtered.  
"Yeah," Jenny confirmed with a bit of a frown. "What's the matter, Jon?"  
He shook his head and tried to regain his composure. "Nothing." He cleared his throat. "So, uh, what do you do there?" He could feel his palms starting to sweat.  
"I'll share some confidentiality with you," Jenny said as she leaned forward. "To be more precise, I am a part of Team Knight Rider."  
Jon's face paled and he shot out of his chair. "Whoa! Hello! My cell phone's vibrating!" he lied as a cover-up. "Hang on, I'll be back in a second." He made a beeline toward the restrooms before she could reply.  
"Okay," Jenny said to herself, "that was odd."  
Her comlink beeped. She toyed with her straw and leaned down to pretend to take a drink to she could speak into her comlink without looking strange. "What's up, Domino?"  
"Are you sure it's wise to share with Jon about TKR?" Domino asked.  
"Eavesdropper!" Jenny accused her partner.  
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help my curiosity."  
"I trust Jon, Domino. He's just like he used to be. Besides, it's only fair. He told me about his work." "But you were too awestruck to really pay attention to what he was saying." "Hey, hush!"  
  
~~~@  
  
Jon stood inside the men's restroom facing the door. He had gone somewhere so he could drown in his anxiety alone for a few minutes. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.  
"Just my luck," he muttered to himself.  
He had finally been reunited with his first love and then he had to turn around and steal from her workplace. He didn't want to give up the money that he was receiving from Bellflower Industries, but he wasn't ready to say goodbye to Jenny yet. How could he turn down her beautiful smile, her wonderful personality.  
No! He was falling for her again. That wasn't making things any better. He took in a deep breath and tried to come up with a solution. Maybe he could do this without giving up on one or the other. Maybe he could be sly enough to obtain the artificial intelligence without her ever knowing. After that, he would be done with Team Knight Rider and he could go back to Jenny. That seemed like a good solution, although it was not exactly foolproof. He could do that.  
Suddenly, the restroom door swung open. It knocked Jon in the forehead and he stumbled back, mumbling an, "Ow!"  
A man stepped into t he restroom, surprised to see Jon standing there. "Sorry," he said.  
"It's okay," Jon replied as he rubbed his forehead. With another deep breath, he headed back to the table. Absently reaching into his Jeans pocket, he discovered that he had left his cell phone in his car.  
As soon as Jon appeared from around the corner, Jenny knew that something was bothering him. She could see the subtle changes in his expression. He almost seemed troubled. She sat up and watched him as he sat down.  
"Sorry 'bout that," he said.  
"Everything all right?" Jenny asked him.  
Jon looked at her. "What? Oh. Yup."  
"Okay good. For a second it looked like you just got fired or something."  
"Oh." Jon grinned. "No. That was just a buddy of mine calling. He's an idiot."  
"I see. Where is it you work again?"  
Jon shrugged. "Nowhere important," he replied as he stood up. Still grinning, he offered his hand. "Care to take a walk to the ice cream shop a few doors down?"  
Jenny took his hand and he helped her to her feet as she smiled. "A walk, hm? Like those starlight walks under the moon you used to take me out on?"  
"Maybe," Jon replied, but then glanced out through the window. "With the absence of the moon and stars."  
"I think I could live with that," Jenny said lightly as they headed out into the city. As they walked the short distance to the ice cream shop, she couldn't help but notice the minute changes in his demeanor. But she decided that maybe it was none of her business. When she stopped to open the door to the ice cream shop, she glanced back to see that Jon had not noticed that she had stopped. "Hey!" she called out.  
He whirled around suddenly, looking clueless.  
She motioned for him to come inside. "You coming, J?"  
He raised an eyebrow at her. "J?" Then he grinned. "You called me J."  
"Oh, well, I'm sorry," she said as she mirrored the expression. "Is that a crime now?"  
"Good memory," Jon commented, standing in front of her as she held the door wide open. "I haven't been called that since high school," he said.  
Jenny let the door slip from her fingers. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked.  
Jon didn't answer, belatedly realizing that his hand had reached out to hers. He found himself leaning down toward her as she started to close her eyes. It was like time was standing still.  
"Excuse me."  
Jenny and Jon jumped back, startled, to see a large dark-haired man trying to get into the ice cream shop. Both blushing madly, they stepped aside from the door to let him pass. Then Jon held the door open and nodded through the doorway.  
"Let's go inside," he said.  
"Good idea," Jenny agreed quickly.  
  
~~~@  
  
Jon watched her with a slight smile as she finished off the ice cream cone that he had bought for her. He had long ago finished his, but she had gotten so involved in her conversation with him that she had forgotten all about her cone until she felt the chocolate chip ice cream beginning to drip onto her fingers.  
She smiled at him before checking her watch. "Well, I've really done it today," she said. "I gotta get back to work before the boss gets too suspicious." She started to get up.  
"Back to work?" Jon echoed before checking his own watch. "At nine in the evening?"  
"Mhm," she replied with a nod.  
"Man, what kind of hours do you work, Jen?"  
Jenny grinned at him as she started making her way toward the door. "Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." Jon also rose to walk outside with her. "So in other words, neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night will stay you from your duties."  
She laughed as they stepped out through the door. "It was really great spending this evening with you, Jon," she told him.  
"Yeah, you too," he replied with another one of his stunning smiles. "We should do this more often."  
"Not a bad idea," she said. She gave a little sigh. "Well, I have to go back to work."  
"Yeah, me too."  
Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Back to nowhere important, huh?"  
They both smiled.  
"I hope to see you again soon," said Jon.  
"Don't worry, you will." She reached up and gave him a light, friendly kiss on the cheek. "See ya later."  
"You can count on that," was all Jon could say as he watched her walk down the sidewalk toward her car. Guilt set in again as he turned to head back to his own car. He hoped he could get this upcoming mission out of the way and never have to mess with Team Knight Rider again, or FLAG for that matter.  
As soon as he opened the driver's side door of his silver Chevy, he heard the familiar melody of his cell phone ringing from the passenger seat where he had left it. He scrambled inside and almost dove for the phone.  
"Jon Tanner," he answered it.  
"Peter Guerra," was the reply. "I assume Anthony has mentioned me to you."  
Jon pulled the door closed. "Go on."  
"I know how to obtain the AI. I suggest we work together."  
A knot formed at the bottom of Jon's stomach. "Just tell me when."  
  
"So you went on a romantic walk without telling me, huh?" Domino asked as Jenny slipped into the driver's seat.  
"What, do you feel like you've missed out on something?" Jenny asked.  
"Was there any kissing?"  
Jenny's face screwed up into a funny look, but then a short giggle broke through. "For your information, no, there wasn't."  
"Yes, there was!" the AI cried. "I can see it in your face."  
"No, there wasn't."  
"Then there almost was."  
Jenny didn't answer, but she couldn't suppress her small smile.  
"Look at you, Jenny, I've never seen you like this before! You're head over heels!"  
Her smile had only grown bigger. "No comment," she said.  
"Kyle's calling," Domino suddenly informed her partner as his image appeared on the dashboard monitor.  
"Hey, Jenny," he said, "you heading back to SkyOne?"  
"Yeah," Jenny replied. "What's up?"  
"Dante was able to clear up that image of our truck driver," Kyle explained. "I think we've IDed him, too."  
Jenny nodded. "I'll be there." She pressed a little harder on the throttle.  
  
~~~@  
  
"What have you got?" Jenny asked Kyle as she walked into the situation room. Kyle looked up from the computer he had been working at. "Dante managed to manipulate the image enough to bring some kind of focus into it," he said. "We were able to match the face up with a few possible names." Erica had been reclining in the chair beside Kyle, but now she sat up. "You said you thought you recognized him, so we thought you could help us narrow it down." Jenny nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Let's see our man." Kyle hit the enter key on the keyboard and the altered image appeared on the screen on the wall. Jenny lifted her gaze to study the image. and her heart skipped a beat. She recognized him immediately. The black hair, the brown eyes.  
"Jon," she breathed.  
Kyle stood up from his seat at the look on her face. "Jenny?"  
"You look like you've just seen a ghost," Erica remarked.  
Jenny was backing away from the screen, her face ghostly white. "It all makes sense," she murmured almost inaudibly. Then she started to clench her fists, "Traitor!" Her eyes darkened and she rushed out of the room.  
"Jenny!" Kyle shouted, abandoning his chair to chase after her.  
Erica's arm flew out to stop him. "Let me go after her," she told him.  
"What's she doing?"  
"Let's just say I know what she's capable of even without a gun." She was gone before Kyle could say anything more. 


	3. Chapter Three

"Give me the home address for Jonathan Tanner," Jenny ordered her partner as she hastily climbed into Domino's cabin.  
Domino sensed Jenny's unusual fierceness. "Jenny.?"  
"Just do it!" Jenny shouted.  
Domino picked up immediately on the rare vehemence in her voice and recognized her dangerous mood. She complied silently. "9007 Troy Street."  
"We're there." She reached out to pull the door shut, but an arm appeared out of nowhere and kept it open.  
"Don't do this, Jenny," Erica warned her firmly.  
"I need to," Jenny growled, glaring at the blonde. "Let go of the door."  
"No." Erica's tone was harsh, deliberately so. Jenny was her best friend, and she knew exactly how to handle her. "Don't do this," she repeated. "Not now. Not like this. You're not thinking straight!" She lowered her voice. "Kill the engine, Jenny."  
Jenny didn't move for a while and Erica only waited. Finally, she gave in and let the engine die off. Erica was right. She slowly turned and gazed up at her friend, her emotions quarreling in her brown eyes. Erica's expression softened and she bent over to give her a loose hug.  
"We'll get him, Jenny," Erica promised quietly. "Trust me. And I'll let you do the honors of handcuffing him."  
Jenny managed a bit of a smile, slightly ashamed of her reaction to Jon's picture. But her smile faded. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "It just hurts. I guess I haven't felt hurt in a long time."  
"I know," Erica replied, "we're all entitled to lose it once in a while." She didn't speak again until Jenny made eye contact with her. "Hey. I might not know what kind of connection you and that guy have or had, but I know we'll make him pay for what he did. the right way."  
  
~~~@  
  
Jon sighed as he hung up his cell phone, glancing across the dark laboratory toward a rather large man sitting at one of the computers. "Anthony's getting impatient because we haven't made a move yet," he told him.  
The other man rolled his eyes. "Tell him to chill out for a while. This isn't an easy task here."  
Jon sat back in his chair, nervously wringing his hands. "He does have a point, though, Peter."  
Peter Guerra looked away from the computer screen just long enough to give Jon an irritated glare. "You both need to relax," he said. "We have to wait." He returned his gaze to the screen. "I've been tracking our AI. We have to wait for the right time to move out."  
"You don't think they're on to us, do you?" Jon wanted to know, fidgeting restlessly.  
Peter shot him a funny look. "How can they be on to us?" he inquired. "We haven't done anything yet." He considered it for a moment. "Well, you were head of that nice little attack a few days ago." He received a glare in return, but he only chuckled.  
"This isn't a good idea," Jon remarked with a shake of his head.  
Peter regarded his co-worker. "Calm down, man. You can't back outta this now."  
"I'm fine," Jon muttered.  
"Anthony would probably kill you 'cause you know too much," Peter continued. "Go do something."  
"Like what?"  
"I dunno." Peter shrugged. "Something. Go lure the AI closer to us."  
Now it was Jon's turn to roll his eyes.  
"Are you always like this on missions?" Peter questioned, raising an eyebrow.  
"No," Jon answered, "this mission is a little personal."  
"Ah. Getting revenge on someone?"  
"I know someone who works for Storm Force."  
"Oh? Who might that be?"  
"My ex-girlfriend."  
"I see," Peter nodded. "Well, you can't have everything, can you?"  
Jon glared at him again, his lips a fine line. "Yes, I can."  
  
~~~@  
  
Jenny had to blink a few times to tear her gaze from the email displayed on the screen of her laptop. She had been staring at that thing for almost twenty minutes now, ever since she had gone into her quarters to be alone for a while. Domino had emailed her Jon Tanner's address, and there she was staring at it, momentarily dwelling on the shock and disbelief that he had changed so much. And she realized that she didn't even know him anymore.  
She wanted to go to that address so bad. She didn't know why, really. She wasn't sure what she would do if he was home when she cam by. She wasn't sure if she would be able to keep her fists from meeting his face.  
She sighed. Kyle would never let her go anyway. not after how she reacted to the photo in the conference room. This case had become too personal, and she was sure her involvement now was very limited. If only she had been able to control it. She was aching to scream at Jon, to tear into him verbally, and then knock him out so fast he wouldn't know what hit him. Perhaps that would ease the emotional pain a little.  
She quickly rubbed her eyes as they started to water. Why did this have to happen to her? She couldn't even confront him. She wasn't even sure if she really believed this at all.  
There was a knock at her door and she jumped. "Come in," she spoke in a surprisingly strong voice.  
Kyle appeared and took a step inside. "Hey."  
Jenny gave him a small smile. "Hey."  
"What're you up to?"  
Jenny glanced at the address on the laptop screen. "Nothing." She turned around in her chair to fully face him as he walked further into her room. "Look. Kyle, I'm sorry about-"  
Kyle held up a hand. "It's all right, Jenny. It happens sometimes." He took a seat on her bed. "Do you still want to be involved in this case?"  
Jenny's head shot up with surprise. "But I thought-"  
"I know," said Kyle, "but I don't want to sit you out, if you don't want to. I know we don't normally do personal cases, but as long as you act professionally, I will allow it if you can control yourself."  
Jenny nodded. "I can."  
Kyle grinned. "I know you can. But I'd prefer it if you steered clear from Jon Tanner."  
"I understand." She glanced at the screen again. There was no way Kyle would ever. or perhaps. "Kyle, may I go investigate?"  
"Investigate what?"  
Jenny rolled aside in her swivel chair to give Kyle a full view of the address. Kyle read it over quickly.  
"What's there?" he inquired.  
Jenny took a deep breath. "Possibly Anthony Cutlass. I dug up his home address."  
Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Really?"  
"If he's not home, I wanna check things out," Jenny explained.  
"Let me go with you," Kyle remarked. "Two people are better than one. We'll take Dante."  
"All right, let's go." She didn't even think twice.  
  
~~~@  
  
Jon looked up as Peter's computer started beeping. Peter say up in his seat and started typing quickly, looking a bit surprised.  
"What's up?" Jon wanted to know as he stood up and walked over to Peter.  
"Our targeted AI is still out of range, but I've picked up another on in close proximity."  
"Jeez, man, how many AIs do they have?"  
"I don't care. It's time to make our move." He closed the laptop he had been at and tucked it under his arm. He grabbed Jon's cell phone and tossed it to him. "Tell Chris Lindsey to meet us around back with the van."  
  
The feeling of unease only grew stronger as Jon sat quietly in the back of an old van, taking Peter's job of tracking the AI. The van was rather convenient for this mission, he had to admit. On the outside, it appeared as nothing more than a white utility van, but the inside had been converted to a sort of mini-lab. Peter was at another computer, messing with. something. Jon wasn't sure what it was, or whether he wanted to know.  
"How much closer?" the driver hollered toward the back of the van. Chris Lindsey eyed Peter and Jon through the rear-view mirror. He was an intimidating man, extremely muscular with a buzz cut so short he looked bald.  
"Straight ahead," Jon informed him. "We're almost on top of it. Keep going."  
"So what're we gonna do when we are on top of this thins?" Chris questioned.  
"That's what this is for," Peter spoke up.  
"That big hunk of metal?" Chris asked, unimpressed.  
"This 'big hunk of metal' generates a powerful EMP," Peter explained. "Once Chris has everyone lured from the AI, I'll activate this and shut the AI down so we can take it before they get back."  
Chris shrugged. "Sounds easy enough." He scanned the residential area he was driving through. "Where is it going, anyway?"  
There were a few moments of silence before Jon sputtered, "What the.!"  
"What's your problem?" Chris inquired.  
"They're going to my house!"  
"Floor it!" Peter shouted.  
Chris gripped the steering wheel and the can burst forward, illegally passing the car ahead of him and squealing the tires as he rounded the corner. He knew exactly where Jon's house was.  
  
~~~@  
  
"No one is home," Dante reported as he scanned the small white house he had just been parked beside.  
"I'm gonna take a look inside," Jenny told Kyle as she opened the passenger door, but then she stopped and reluctantly brought herself to ask, "Are you coming?"  
"Go on. I need to stay out here. I've got a bad feeling about this."  
Jenny successfully tried not to breathe a sigh of relief. Quietly, she went up to the front door as Kyle parked somewhere less obvious and paused on the porch. Taking in a deep breath, she lock pick out from her jacket pocket, picking the door open with ease. The door swung open silently, and she stepped into the cool, clean house. Memories flooded her as she recognized a few pieces of furniture from Mr. and Mrs. Tanner's house, and all of the people in the pictures on the wall. Everything looked so familiar. so normal. She almost didn't believe that Jon was involved in anything. wrong.  
She soon found herself in Jon's bedroom and stopped there in the doorway when she rested her gaze upon her own senior picture sitting on the nightstand. Her heart started beating faster as she walked up to the picture. "He never forgot." she whispered.  
A blinking light caught her eye and she looked past the picture at the message machine sitting behind it. Mostly out of curiosity, she played the message.  
"Jon Tanner, this is Anthony Cutlass."  
Jenny froze and the feelings of dread and disappointment dropped to the bottom of her stomach like an anvil. "No."  
"I'd like you to come by the office this weekend," the message continued. "We need to discuss your possible rewards for successfully delivering our goods by truck. I want to give you a small bonus for. taking care of the minor difficulties during the delivery." The message ended without a farewell, leaving Jenny in silence, staring at the message machine in shock.  
Delivery. Truck. Goods. Minor difficulties. "It's true," she breathed. Her eyes widened at the realization that Jon was shooting at Kyle, and he would have killed him it if wasn't for Dante.  
  
~~~@  
  
"Slow down," Peter demanded, giving directions for Jon, since he was too flustered to say anything. After Chris made a left turn, he spoke again, "Our AI has stopped on this street. It's on our left."  
Chris scanned the neighborhood and spotted the silver Expedition parking in the driveway of an old abandoned house that was across the street from Jon's home. "The SUV?" he asked.  
Peter moved to the front of the van to have a better look through the windshield. "That's gotta be it."  
Chris pulled over and killed the engine, grabbing his cell phone and a gun. "There's a guy in the car. I'll call you as soon as I get him away from it."  
"Go."  
  
Kyle had watched the van turn onto the street, his suspicion rising when it stopped a few houses away.  
"There is a lot of electric devices within that van, Kyle," Dante informed his partner. "And the driver has just grabbed a gun."  
Kyle tensed as the man climbed out of the van. "This isn't good."  
"Kyle-"  
Kyle jumped as bullets suddenly showered onto the car, bouncing crazily off of the windshield. "That man is asking for it."  
"Be careful, Kyle. I don't think you want to tick them off anymore than they already are."  
As soon as Chris ceased fire, Kyle made a mad dash toward Jon's house, as he saw Kyle come after him. Perfect. Now was the more unpleasant part. He had to put up a fight to stall him long enough. He tore through Jon's front yard, heading for the front door.  
Kyle's eyes widened. "Jenny!" he shouted as he ran faster.  
Chris burst into the house, and his eyes were drawn to the young woman clambering through the hallway. For a second they both stared at each other in bewilderment, but then everything kicked into high gear. He spun around and found himself almost face-to-face with Kyle. His fist automatically flew out and met the side of Kyle's face, sending him back a few steps before he could retaliate.  
"Now!" Chris shouted into his cell.  
Kyle faintly heard Dante call him through the comlink as he and Chris went to the ground. "Jenny, go to Dante!" he yelled out.  
  
Peter slammed his cell phone down and spun around to face Jon. "Do it now!" he bellowed.  
Jon's hands instantly went for the keyboard, typing like mad as hundreds of windows popped up onto his screen while he worked. And when he hit the enter key, he yelled, "Now!"  
Peter activated the EMP at once, and everything in the van went dark.  
  
Dante was monitoring Kyle since the moment he had stepped out of the car, but suddenly he started picking up strange readings from the van, and he couldn't understand them. Concerned, he went to alert Kyle, but after his partner failed to answer, he picked up an alarmingly large amount of interference. It started to escalate, and his systems went haywire.  
"Kyle!" he called helplessly through the comwatch.  
He saw Jenny running toward him, and then there was nothing. 


	4. Chapter Four

The silence in the situation room was as thick as butter. Jenny was seated in one of the chairs, her expression a mixture of horror, sadness, betrayal and anger. She hadn't spoken for a long time. Neither had Kyle, who was lounging back in the chair beside her and staring off into space as he held a plastic bag of ice cubes to the side of his face where a nasty bruise was starting to form.  
The door smoothly slid open and Trek came rushing in with a look of bewilderment on his face. "Where the heck is Dante?" he wanted to know.  
Kyle never moved, but Jenny shot him a dark, brief look that clearly stated 'watch it.'  
Trek shook his head and sighed. "Just wonderful. Can you fill me in on any details?" he asked, not bothering to take a seat. "Everyone in the garage was a bit vague." He had directed the question toward both Jenny and Kyle, but for a while he thought no one was going to reply.  
Finally, Jenny delivered the details of the recent incident in a deadpan tone that didn't match the emotions displayed on her face. "I was investigating the house when this huge, muscleman barged inside with Kyle right behind him. I thought he was headed toward the backyard, but suddenly turned to deal with Kyle and they took each other to the ground. I went out to go get Dante, and that's when I saw a man driving him away with the van right behind him." She took in a breath. "And that's all." She risked a glance at Kyle, surprised at how incredibly calm he appeared.  
Trek muttered something to himself and started making his way out of the room. "I'll see if I can do anything to help us get Dante back." Then he was gone, leaving Jenny and Kyle in a very uncomfortable silence. Jenny turned to face him and she gazed at his profile. "Kyle, I'm so sorry for lying to you and going into Jon's house. I'm sorry that I placed my personal issues above the mission. Dante's kidnapping is my fault. We wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."  
Kyle turned to return her gaze at last as he lowered the plastic bag from his face. "I forgive you, Jenny, and I trust you won't do it again, but I don't understand why you didn't tell me the truth in the first place."  
"I didn't think you would let us go if I told you the truth," Jenny murmured sheepishly. "Because of my. personal connections with Jon Tanner."  
"You're probably right." He set his gaze back into empty space, but the silence was short-lived. "But this is my fault, too."  
"Your fault?" Jenny echoed, her eyebrows raised. "How could-"  
"I shouldn't have chased Lindsey into the house. You were perfectly capable of taking care of him alone, and I could've just alerted you through my comlink. You know that just as well as I do. And it's clear that all he wanted was me out of the car. He got what he wanted thanks to me. I'm in the wrong, too, Jenny, so I can't blame you alone for where we are right now."  
Jenny frowned at him, but she had nothing to add. She sat back in her seat, feeling discouraged. "Mistakes can sometimes be fixed," she spoke.  
"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "but this mistake might've cost me a friend."  
  
~~~@  
  
He was powered down. That realization alone was enough for him. To know that he was still alive was enough, and so he went on undisturbed, exhausted, oblivious to the world around him and unable to recall the memories of before.  
  
~~~@  
  
"Where are you going, Jenny?" Domino quietly asked through the comlink as her partner walked down the hallways of SkyOne. She had made a final scan of the plane a few minutes ago before shutting down for the night, and the last time she checked, Jenny was in bed. She was surprised to suddenly find her walking through SkyOne.  
"Not far," Jenny answered quietly. "Just going to see Kyle for a while."  
"At ten o'clock at night?" Domino replied. "You know now's not a great time to go flirting, Jenny."  
"You know that that's not what this is about," Jenny said with a bit of exasperation.  
She came to a stop outside Kyle's door, absently staring at the hall carpet. She couldn't stop blaming herself for Dante's kidnapping. She didn't care if Kyle hadn't used good judgment when he went in the house after her. It was still her fault that they were even there in the first place. She couldn't believe that she had lied to him. If she only had explained everything to Kyle, perhaps he would have allowed it.  
"Jenny?" Domino's voice brought her out of her self-incrimination and she pulled her gaze from the carpet to her comlink. "Hmm?" "Are you going to go inside?"  
Jenny glanced at the door in front of her. "Oh. Yeah." She knocked somewhat softly in case he was indeed asleep.  
Only a few moments passed before Kyle answered the door. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking weary. "Hey," he greeted her.  
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Jenny asked.  
Kyle shrugged. "Nah. I can't really sleep."  
"Oh. Me either."  
"Come in."  
Jenny was a bit surprised by his invitation. "Thanks." As she stepped into the room and into better light, she noticed that Kyle's bruised temple had started to turn colors and she couldn't help but feel responsible again. She noticed that the TV had been left on and she realized that she had never seen that TV on before.  
"You know," Jenny started as they both took a seat on his couch, "we both have something in common tonight."  
Kyle reached over for the remote control and turned the TV off. "What's that?" he wanted to know.  
Jenny's gaze had been set on the TV's darkened screen. "We both lost someone important to us today."  
Her words made him look over at her suddenly. He found himself studying her profile, since she refused to return his gaze. "You're talking about Jon, aren't you?" It was more of a guess than a question.  
He saw her nod.  
"Who was he to you, Jenny?"  
She was quiet for a long time before she finally met his gaze with her own. She gave a small smile that was noticeably forced. "The only man that I've ever fallen in love with." She already knew what questions he was going to ask, so she pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged and started, "I knew him in high school. You know, one of those mega-popular, Homecoming King, super cute jocks. I swear every girl in the school had their eyes on him. And out of all those girls he chose me, and we lasted all through high school. He was my first love. I loved him so much, and he really loved me, too. But we went our separate ways after we graduated and lost touch. But I ran into him a few days ago at my favorite coffee shop. I thought it was first-love all over again. He was still perfect, just like in high school. I fell for him again, but." She trailed off and returned her stare to the blank TV. He could figure out the rest of the story for himself.  
Kyle didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say. Things happened, and sometimes life was cruel. He only reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," was all he said.  
He felt her take in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, too," she murmured, but then she shook her head-and Kyle's hand off of her shoulder. She needed to change the subject. "I think Trek's still in the garage. Wanna go see how things are going?"  
"Sure." He tried to make his answer casual, but she could tell that she didn't have to ask him twice. "Let's go."  
  
It was relatively quiet in SkyOne's garage. They found Trek up with a few mechanics, but they were too engrossed in their work to carry conversations that lasted for more than a minute. They made their way over to the workbench where Trek was hard at work at a computer.  
"Hey," Jenny spoke first.  
Trek looked up and acknowledged the two operatives. "Hey," he replied. "I was beginning to wonder when you guys would show up here."  
Kyle nodded toward Trek's computer. "What's up?" he asked.  
"Nothing good, that's for sure," Trek sighed, finally pausing at his typing to relax his sore fingers. He popped a few.  
"Bad news?" Jenny said as she furrowed her brow.  
"No news," Trek corrected her. "No progress. I can't locate Dante anywhere. It's like he doesn't exist."  
"So what does that mean?" Kyle inquired worriedly.  
"Well, the only time our computers would be unable to pick him up is if he was either taken to the other side of the US where he'd be out of our range, or his signals were all switched off."  
Jenny bit her lower lip. "I don't know which one I'd rather lean towards."  
"So we're still at a dead end," Kyle summed up.  
"Basically. yes," Trek was reluctant to reply. "I'm doing everything I can, and I haven't used up every attempt yet."  
"But we don't even have a theory to go on," Jenny pointed out. "Dante could be anywhere, and we don't even know where we can begin to look."  
"Wait," Kyle spoke up as a thought arrived in his mind. "Why doesn't anyone think that Bellflower Industries could be behind this?"  
Jenny shook her head. "Because they do weapons and equipment."  
"Dante can be a weapon, Jenny," Kyle pointed out. "If they know what they're doing, they could make him into anything they want." More ideas sparked as he started putting things together. "I don't think that it was just a coincidence that Dante's kidnapping happened during our investigation of Bellflower Industries. Chris Lindsey's task was nothing but getting me out and away from Dante. And he alerted the other guys via his cell phone as soon as I was chasing him so they could snag Dante."  
Jenny caught on at once. "Lindsey told the police that he worked for a man named Andrew Cotta. Doesn't that sound a lot like Anthony Cutlass?"  
Kyle was starting to grow restless. "FLAG's sources said that they worked under fictitious names." His pale blue eyes clouded with a rare anger. "Cutlass is behind Dante's kidnapping." A familiar sound from Kyle's watch interrupted him before he could say anything more. He lifted his comlink to see that Duke was contacting him.  
"Hey, Kyle," Duke said. "You have anything to report?" Kyle inquired. "Yes, I do, in fact. Two of those unmarked trucks came by here a few hours ago to swap their loads with each other. Beast and I followed one of them back, but it lead to a dead end. Luckily, Beast was monitoring the second truck so we chased after it, too. It led us to a laboratory compound belonging to a research organization that went out of business almost a year ago. We found Bellflower's labs."  
"Perfect," Kyle muttered.  
"I'll have Beast send Trek the coordinates so you guys can check it out."  
Kyle turned back to Jenny and Trek. "I'm going to the labs first thing tomorrow morning."  
"Let me go with you," Jenny requested.  
"No," Kyle shook his head. "This is something I need to do alone."  
"No," Jenny protested. "I have to do this, too. This one's personal."  
He paused and realized she was right. We both lost someone important to us today, he remembered her words. This was something they both had to do. He nodded and gave her a brief grin. "This one's personal," he also said. "Tomorrow."  
Jenny grinned and nodded as well. "Tomorrow," she agreed. "We're on it."  
  
~~~@  
  
"Kyle, why are you leaving so early?" Trek asked, watching as the head operative downed a cup of coffee. "I've never seen you up this early."  
"I've got to get Dante back," Kyle replied as he set the empty cup on the edge of the console in the situation room. "I have no idea what they want with him, and I can't give them enough time to get very far." He glanced around the room. "Where's Jenny?"  
"Right here." Jenny's voice came from behind him. He turned around to find her standing in the doorway. "Domino got the coordinates from Beast. Let's go."  
Kyle nodded. "See ya, Trek."  
"Good luck, you two," Trek called after them. 


	5. Chapter Five

It was so incredibly silent. He had lost track of time a long time ago. However, as he started to become more aware of himself, recent memories started trickling in, along with common sense. But still, he did not wish to awaken.  
He should have been able to register the four men that had started surrounding him, but he went on uninterrupted in recharge. until he suddenly felt something clamp onto his left rear axle. He scanned before he was even all the way online.  
It was a chain of a substance he had never encountered before in his existence.  
He awoke with a jolt and involuntarily lunged, pulling on the two enormous chains secured around his two rear axles that had him pinned down. Anthony Cutlass, Peter Guerra, Jon Tanner, and a fourth man were standing around him, staring blankly. He was in a huge, dark laboratory room, surrounded by large computers. He was trapped.  
"Kyle," was the first thought he processed.  
Anthony stepped forward. "You don't need him anymore, Dante," he said.  
"What are you doing to me?" Dante fired his engine and his tires squealed as he burst forward. The men jumped back as he flew towards them, but the chains wrenched him back before he could touch them. They dug into his rear axles and he wanted to cry out at the raw pain.  
"Don't fight against it, Dante," Anthony said. "It'll only hurt you."  
"I demand to know what's going on!" Dante shouted.  
Anthony only grinned and turned to the others that had come with him. "Congratulations, Jon and Peter. Another job well done. Peter, thicken the security in case our friends at FLAG come for their AI." He nodded to the skinny blonde man that Dante did not recognize. "Alex, thanks for coming. Start breaking down the AI's security systems."  
"No!" He floored the throttle, forcing his speedometer past sixty as he fought against the chains, making them creak and moan in protest. Smoke poured from his wheels, but the men paid no attention as they gathered around the central computer. Dante nearly screamed in pain as one of the chains gave way.  
Anthony dodged the Expedition's grille. "Get control over this computer!" he bellowed, glaring at Alex Lopez, one of his newer employees.  
"Almost there!" Alex cried.  
Pure fear and determination raged through his systems. He had to get away before it was too late. He had to get back to Kyle. Nothing else mattered.  
He felt the sting of an external access worming through his systems, gradually taking over, overriding his every function. Chaos broke out in his mind and he screamed, losing his grip on the car's controls. His vision started to fail as the worm wrapped around his systems and squeezed until he couldn't hold on any longer, unable to bear the pain as it slowly drove him mad.  
The steering wheel jerked and the SUV swerved uncontrollably to the right. He could not feet the fragile, human body as it came into contact with his right fender.  
"Kyle."  
  
*  
  
"Dante."  
Kyle was pulled out of his idle musings with a jolt, unsure why he had spoken his partner's name out loud. But then an ominous feeling dropped to the bottom of his stomach like an anvil as he sat up in his seat. It took him a moment to notice that Jenny was glancing at him worriedly from the corner of her eye. Somehow he knew something was very wrong. He could feel it.  
"Kyle, what's the matter?" Jenny questioned.  
Kyle looked out at the scenery through Domino's passenger window. "How much longer 'til we get there?" he wanted to know, looking slightly unnerved.  
Domino's monitor came to life with a map of Los Angeles. She plotted their course to Bellflower Industries' labs and said, "Our current ETA is three minutes."  
Kyle took in a breath. "Not soon enough," he murmured to himself.  
Jenny pressed harder on the throttle.  
  
Kyle was out of the car before it even drew to a full halt, but Jenny was right behind him. Silently, they went for the front door, incredibly alert, but everything appeared normal. Everything was quiet. Maybe too quiet.  
Kyle reached for the door handle and started to open it for Jenny. An angry shout reached his ears and an instant later he found a large man bursting through the door, straight for him. He jumped back in surprise as Jenny threw her full weight at him from behind, sending him face-first onto the blacktop of the parking lot. She jammed her knee into the back of his neck and he was momentarily immobile as he struggled to come back to his senses.  
"Thanks," Kyle said.  
Jenny nodded in reply and he took over as soon as she jumped up. She stood back and let him take Peter Guerra out.  
"Go find Dante!" she heard Kyle shout.  
Jenny didn't waste a second. She smoothed out her black jacket and strode casually inside, covering up any possible suspicion. She smiled at a few of the security guards, as she caught them staring. She turned down a long hallway where the staff density was thinned out considerably. She dropped the "sexy woman" façade and her walk took on a more determined pace as she started glancing through every open door she passed without looking too out of place. She was mildly surprised that no one had stopped to question her being here. Each time she turned a corner she tensed up for another possible attack, but each time there was nothing.  
Honestly, she didn't know where to look, or if she was even going in the right direction. Every doorway was an office, restroom, break room or conference room. Where on earth were all the laboratories?  
She glanced behind her to be sure that no one was there. Surreptitiously, she lifted her comlink to her lips. "Domino, can you scan this place at all?"  
"That's what I've been trying to do," Domino replied quickly. "The structure of this building is really strange, and I can't scan through it very well."  
"Great," Jenny muttered.  
"Sorry, hon," Domino remarked.  
Jenny sighed and continued down the hallways. She was on her own for this one.  
A strange feeling suddenly came over her and she stopped in her tracks. She whirled around again, half-expecting to see someone lurking in the shadows behind her. But the hall was empty. Slowly, she continued down the hall, and the feeling only grew stronger. Perhaps she was getting closer.  
She stopped in front of a door with a sign stating that a stairwell was on the other side. Cautiously, she pushed it open, and when she was convinced that no one was going to ambush her, she stepped inside. There were two stairways: one leading up and one leading down. Down? There had to be a basement floor, then, she surmised. She hurriedly debated on which way to go first. But when she realized that there wasn't any way to take Dante upstairs, she briskly climbed downward.  
She had only made it to the second flight of stairs when she started to hear the horrible screech of spinning tires mixed with the deep growl of a powerful engine.  
"Dante," she whispered.  
A clicking sound reached her ears and her head snapped up. She suddenly found herself staring down the barrel of a gun and her face lost some of its color in her surprise. She froze and slowly lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of Anthony Cutlass.  
"I'm sorry, miss," he said smoothly, "but this floor is for authorized personnel only."  
Jenny narrowed her eyes. "I beg your pardon, sir, but what is your definition of 'authorized'?" She ducked and kicked out at the same time, knocking the gun out from his hand and dodging the bullet as he instinctively fired.  
Anthony jumped back in disgust and swung his fist at her, confident that it would strike his desired target. Jenny's hand also flew out and she grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip. She held her breath as she heaved him up off of his feet and spun him to the ground, flat on his back. Anthony swung his legs out and kicked her feet out from underneath her. Jenny gasped as she tumbled to the ground, the last bit of color on her face drained, but as Anthony lunged for her she planted both of her feet into his chest and kicked. With a startled shout, he went flying back, unexpectedly somersaulting down the last flight of stairs. Jenny scrambled to her feet and watched with wide eyes until he came to a rest, in a heap, at the bottom. She quickly snatched up his gun before following him down. She stood over him for a moment to ensure that he was indeed unconscious, and she bent over to check for a pulse. He was still alive.  
It suddenly dawned on her that the horrible noise had fallen silent. "Dante," she breathed. She spun around to face the door at the base of the stairs and kicked it open.  
She slipped Anthony's gun in the back pocket of her pants and surveyed the room. It was exceedingly large, but awfully spacious. The walls were all covered in workbenches, computers and other electronics, but in the middle of the room there was nothing. It was, however, obviously a lab. She hoped she was getting closer.  
As her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the lab, she saw a man sitting at one of the computers, apparently oblivious of her rather unceremonious entrance. Her whole body tensed. Even with his back facing her, she could tell exactly who it was.  
"Jon!" she cried.  
The man jumped at the sound of her voice and leapt out of his chair, sending it flying backwards as he faced her, his eyes as wide as saucers. "Jenny!" he exclaimed, his shock clear in his voice. "What." He swallowed hard, "what're you doing here?"  
He saw her fists clench with rage and he took a step backward, his eyes pinned on her form in the doorway. She shouted with anger and charged at him. In a flash, she was practically on top of him and all he could do was back away. She bared her teeth as her hands went for his neck. She pinned him to the wall.  
"I believe you have something that belongs to my friend," she said, her tone frighteningly level, her face only inches from his. Her eyes flashed with an anger that Jon had never seen before. "Jenny," he choked out, squirming against her grasp, "please. listen."  
"Shut up!" Jenny yelled angrily, forcing him harder against the wall as her grip tightened.  
"Jenny. please don't. make me do something I really don't want to do."  
Jenny's dark expression never faltered. "I think that's something I should be saying to you."  
Suddenly, he stopped squirming. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jon's free hand slowly reach into his pocket. But she was faster. She pulled Anthony's gun on him, stopping him dead in his tracks with his hand only halfway in his pocket. His eyes were glued to the gun in her hand.  
"We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way," Jenny's calm voice sent chills down his spine. "I am trained. You are not."  
Jon went for his gun. So did Jenny. But she was indeed faster. She snatched his gun right out of his pocked, just past his fingers. She took several steps away from him, keeping her eyes and her aim on Jon. She stuck Jon's gun in her own pocket and couldn't help but smirk briefly.  
Immediately, she brought her mind back to her more important priorities. Jenny glanced around the lab in search of anything out in the open that she could take as a clue. This lab was big enough to fit a car three times the size of Dante. She had to be close.  
And when she lowered her gaze to the floor, she finally found what she had been looking for. Black tire tracks were everywhere, all over the floor, and under her feet. Slowly, she returned her gaze to Jon as she spoke into her comlink.  
"Domino, can you scan these tire marks?"  
There were a few seconds of silence. Then Domino spoke in a bit of a troubled tone, "Jenny, I believe they belong to Dante."  
The silence grew thicker. "How sure?"  
"Ninety-six percent sure."  
"Can you pick him up on your scanners?"  
"Not yet. I'm still trying. Give me a minute."  
Jenny's grip on the gun tightened and there was an insane look in her eyes. "I trusted you, Jon," she growled. "How could you do this to me, to Dante, to FLAG? What were you thinking?"  
"Jenny, I think you need to relax." Jon was struggling to keep the fear out of his voice. "Why are you doing this? I don't know what you want from me!"  
Jenny's face screwed up in disgust. "Stop playing stupid. You don't know how many times I've heard that. I know you have Dante. the AI. And you shot at Kyle through the window of your truck. You tried to kill him! How could you!" Her voice echoed off the lab walls, and she received no other reply. She took in a deep breath to keep herself in check. Calmly, she asked, "Where is Dante?"  
No answer.  
"Jenny," Domino's voice cut in. "I'm picking up a faint reading of what could be Dante's e-signature."  
Jenny didn't acknowledge, but there was no doubt that she had heard her. "I loved you, Jon!" she shouted. "You went in behind my back!" She narrowed her eyes. "If Domino finds Dante in here, you're gonna wish never knew me."  
"Jenny, the source of the e-signature is to your left."  
Jenny and Jon both glanced over, their eyes settling on a large steel door that was boldly labeled "RESTRICTED ACCESS." The tire tracks disappeared under the door. Jon's face paled and he risked a glance at Jenny, only to see her eyes flash.  
"You're done," Jenny muttered and cocked the gun, her finger pressing on the trigger.  
"Jenny, what're you doing!" Kyle's voice filled the laboratory as the head operative burst into the room.  
"Giving him what he deserves," was Jenny's only reply.  
"Jenny, this is wrong and you know it," Kyle said, tentatively stepping towards her. "Don't shoot him. It's murder. He's not worth it. Jenny!"  
"I can't ever forgive you, Jon," she murmured and fired. 


	6. Chapter Six

The bullet buried itself into the wall beside Jon's head, centimeters away from impaling him. Jon's face was chalk white as Jenny walked up to him. She was trembling ever so slightly.  
"Kyle's right," she spoke barely above a whisper through clenched teeth. "You aren't worth it." She drew her fist back and punched him hard in the face. His head flew back and struck the wall behind him, and then he fell limp to the ground. She was unable to tear her stare away from his lifeless form as she tossed both guns at him.  
Kyle cautiously approached her, more than aware of the emotional condition could make her do. For the first time since he had met her, he was afraid of her. Was she really meaning to shoot him? "Jenny.?" he whispered.  
Jenny took an unsteady step backward, shaking. "I'm done," the words barely escaped her lips. "I'm sorry."  
He dared himself to reach out and he lightly touched her arm. She finally turned around, all of the anger fading from her expression. But suddenly she looked away and pointed off to the side. "He's in there," she said almost cryptically.  
"Dante?" Kyle asked.  
She only nodded and stepped forward toward the large steel door. Kyle followed her worriedly. "I can take it from here, Jenny. It's okay now."  
Jenny didn't reply. Instead she turned to wrap her arms around him, holding on to him as if her life depended on it. For a moment, Kyle only returned the embrace.  
"Kyle."  
Kyle and Jenny both looked up to see Erica standing in the doorway, along with Trek and several police officers. Kyle nodded towards Jon's motionless form and the police proceeded to seize Jon and the guns. Erica wordlessly went over to Kyle and took Jenny for him. He watched as the blonde led Jenny out of the room, and Trek came up beside Kyle.  
"Will she be all right?" Trek wanted to know.  
"I think so," Kyle answered. "This one was just a bit too personal." He turned back to the locked steel door. "We need to open this up."  
"I'm on it." Trek headed over to the only active computer in the lab; the one Jon had been working at. He sat down and his fingers instantly flew across the keyboard. Within minutes, he reported, "The door is controlled by this computer."  
"Can you access it?" Kyle inquired, anxious to get inside. He couldn't stop worrying that Dante was not in there after all, and that this was not over.  
Trek was quiet for only a few moments. "Got it."  
Kyle went for the handle, noting that the door looked more like that of a restaurant freezer.  
"Wait," Trek's command halted him at once. "I've found an access program to Dante's systems." He saw all hints of any readable expression vanish from his face. "Oh no."  
Kyle's back went rigid. "That doesn't sound good."  
"They were trying to break into Dante's systems."  
"How far did they get?"  
"I'm not sure," his uneasiness was clear in his voice. "Kyle, be careful. If they didn't do it right, they might've corrupted some of his programming." He gave him a meaningful look before looking back to the computer screen. "I'll try and undo some of it."  
Kyle took in a deep breath. "All right." he said.  
He pulled the door open and found himself staring into nothing but darkness. Even the small amount of light from in the lab wasn't enough to brighten the corners of the room. He took a step into the blackness that seemed to stretch on for eternity.  
"Light please?" he called back to Trek.  
"No light," Trek replied.  
"Of course not." He took in a deep breath and went in further. "Dante?"  
Silence. But then he was rewarded with a faint response. "Kyle.?"  
"I'm here, Dante. Light please?"  
The silence returned.  
"Dante?"  
A beam of light pinned him from the side. He spun around on instinct, and realized that they were headlights. He shielded his eyes until the adjusted to the light and he glanced around. It was a very small room-about the size of a freezer-with steel-like walls, ceiling and floor. And he found Dante in one corner with a damaged grille and dented fender.  
Kyle's expression darkened. "Dante, talk to me?"  
"Excuse me."  
Kyle spun around at the sound of a new voice and spotted a blonde man sitting on the ground, huddled in the opposite corner much like Dante. His hand was to his head, and his fingers were covered in blood. Kyle rushed to his side, hoping that Dante could wait just a little while longer.  
"What happened to you, man?" he inquired. He caught sight of a name embroidered on his white shirt: Alex Lopez.  
"I am guilty," Alex mumbled, his words a bit drawn out. "I worked with Tanner to reprogram the AI." He saw Kyle's expression harden, but he continued to confess. "The AI and I both lost control of the car body and it struck me, and I flew into some equipment."  
"Why are you both in here?" Kyle questioned neutrally.  
"We were thrown in here to be hidden."  
"What'd you do to my car?"  
"He inflicted his own physical damage. He tried to escape this room."  
Kyle only took a step back, glancing through the open door where Trek was still working at the computer. "Come in here, Trek, we've got some people to take care of."  
  
~~~@  
  
Kyle sighed as he walked through the hallways, heading for SkyOne's garage. This case was finally closed, Bellflower Industries was out of business, and its employees were either fired or arrested. But he was still feeling uneasy. He hadn't seen Jenny since Erica left the lab compound with her, and Trek was still in the garage under Dante's hood with Gil.  
He felt anxious as he walked into the garage, but before he could get to Trek and Dante, Erica stopped him.  
"Jon Tanner spilled the whole thing," the blonde started, "about Alex Lopez." She shrugged. "Actually, he spilled everything period. Intentions, missions, goals, names, everything."  
"Good," Kyle replied, "so everything is taken care of. Have you seen Jenny?"  
"No, she's been up in her room."  
Kyle heaved a long sigh. "All right, thanks."  
Trek closed the hood and cleaned his hands on a rag as Gil started clearing off the workbench. He looked over at Kyle as if he knew he had been there. "All done," he said.  
"What's the damage?" Kyle asked with concern.  
"Nothing permanent," Trek answered. "Nothing I couldn't fix. And you're welcome. No autographs, please." He grinned at Kyle and went to help put things away.  
Kyle made his way over to his partner and stopped beside the SUV. "Dante," he said as a greeting. "How are you feeling?"  
"I'm just glad to be out of that confinement," was Dante's reply.  
Kyle was a bit surprised that Dante had nothing more to say. "What'd they do to you?" He asked the question without meaning to, and as a loaded silence pressed in he mentally kicked himself at his inconsideration.  
"Nothing I really want to discuss right now," Dante spoke a bit indignantly.  
Kyle cringed a bit. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." He hesitantly rested a hand on the AI's hood. "I'm glad to have you back, though," he said quietly, feeling a bit awkward. "You. had me worried for a while."  
"Really?" Dante asked with more surprise than he had intended to let on.  
"Yeah," Kyle said. "I'm speechless." Kyle rolled his eyes and couldn't help but grin. "Yeah right," he muttered.  
Jenny had entered the garage quietly, not wishing to gain too much attention. She caught Kyle's eye as she made her way to Domino.  
"Hey, Jenny," he greeted her.  
"Kyle," she returned with a nod. "Everything okay now?"  
"Yeah," Kyle answered. "Listen, thanks for helping me out on this one. I know it was hard for you."  
Jenny smiled. "You're welcome, but you won't have to worry about me pressuring you to put me on a personal case again." "Where you heading to?" "I think I need to go for a drive." She climbed into Domino and fired the engine, smiling at Kyle and Trek through the windshield before pulling out of the garage.  
"She gonna be all right?" Trek asked Kyle as they watched the Mustang vanish in the distance.  
"She'll be okay," Kyle answered with a nod.  
Trek glanced over at him. "There's something about this that I don't know, isn't there?"  
Again, Kyle nodded. "There is," he agreed. "Jenny and Jon Tanner were in love."  
Trek's head jerked to stare at Kyle, his eyes wide. "What?"  
"They were going steady all through high school and ran into each other again a few days ago."  
"Oh no." His gaze returned to the horizon where Domino had become too distant to be seen. "Ouch. Poor Jenny."  
"Yeah. But she's tough. She did well. She'll be fine."  
  
~~~@  
  
The calm waters of the lake were shimmering with the orange beams of the setting sun and gently playing on the smooth surface of Domino's hood. Jenny was seated comfortably upon that hood, watching the sun as it lazily sunk down below the horizon. It was so quiet here. It was just what she needed for a change. As much as she loved her TKR family, she just needed to be alone for a while. Domino was the only exception right now.  
"Are you all right, Jenny?" the AI now asked into the silence that had settled in between them for the past fifteen minutes.  
A small smile touched Jenny's lips. "I will be in a few minutes," she answered.  
"I'm sorry Jon turned out this way," she said softly.  
"Yeah, me too." She gazed down at the wallet-sized photo in her hand. Jon's senior picture. "I just never dreamed... He appeared to be just like he was in high school."  
"Time changes everyone."  
"Yeah," she said, "but I never knew it would be that drastic." She was quiet for a while before she spoke again. "But that's the best thing about pictures," she continued.  
"What's that?" Domino asked.  
"They never change, even though the people in them do." She held up Jon's picture and ripped it down the middle before letting the wind carry it down into the water. She turned away from the beautiful sight that was the lake and climbed into the Mustang. She fired the engine, but sat there for a short while, a rare moment when she was simply enjoying Domino's presence. At least she would always be loved.  
Finally shifting into gear, Jenny pulled away from the lake and onto the seldom-used road, heading back home.  
  
Fin Dante Knight Please R&R :D 


End file.
